Archive for the ‘historical romance’ Category

Coming soon from USA Today Bestselling Author Rachael Anderson

The Fall of Lord Drayson

Who is he really? A high and mighty Lord, or a lowly servant?

When Colin Cavendish, the new earl of Drayson, informs Lucy Beresford that she and her mother have two months to vacate the house they’ve called home for the past two years, Lucy is fit to be tied.They have no money, no relations they can turn to for help, and nowhere to go. How dare the earl break the promise his father had made to the Beresfords without so much as a twinge of conscience?

Mere hours later, Lucy discovers the earl unconscious and injured in the middle of the road. Grudgingly, she takes him into her home to tend to his wounds, but when he awakens with no recollection of who he is, Lucy seizes the opportunity to teach a much-needed lesson in humility. Pushing her own twinge of conscience aside, she informs the earl of Drayson that he is nothing more than a mere servant. Her servant, in fact.

And thus begins the charming tale of a pompous lord and an impetuous young woman, caught together in a web so tangled that it begs the question: Will they ever get out?

The Fall of Lord Drayson

Coming late-summer 2016

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RachaelAuthor Rachael Anderson

A USA Today bestselling author, Rachael Anderson is the mother of four and is pretty good at breaking up fights, or at least sending guilty parties to their rooms. She can’t sing, doesn’t dance, and despises tragedies. But she recently figured out how yeast works and can now make homemade bread, which she is really good at eating.

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Cover Reveal Giveaway

$25 Amazon Gift Code or Paypal Cash

Ends 2/17/16

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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Hello and welcome to the first Two for Thursday Book Blitz #T4T
presented by Month9books/Tantrum Books!

Today, we will be showcasing two titles that may tickle your fancy,
and we’ll share what readers have to say about these titles!

You just might find your next read!

This week, #T4T presents to you:

Endless by Amanda Gray and Boneseeker Brynn Chapman

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!

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IN A RACE AGAINST TIME, HOW DO YOU KEEP THOSE YOU LOVE SAFE?

Jenny Kramer knows she isn’t normal. After all, not everybody can see the past lives of people around them. When she befriends Ben Daulton, resident new boy, the pair stumbles on an old music box with instructions for “mesmerization” and discover they may have more in common than they thought.

Like a past life.

Using the instructions in the music box, Ben and Jenny share a dream that transports them to Romanov Russia and leads them to believe they have been there together before. But they weren’t alone. Nikolai, the mysterious young man Jenny has been seeing in her own dreams was there, too. When Nikolai appears next door, Jenny is forced to acknowledge that he has traveled through time and space to find her. Doing so means he has defied the laws of time, and the Order, an ominous organization tasked with keeping people in the correct time, is determined to send him back. While Ben, Jenny and Nikolai race against the clock — and the Order — the trio discovers a link that joins them in life — and beyond death.

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What Readers are Saying:

“I thought this book was pretty amazing – the characters, the setting and the adventure all came together to create this romantic yet ultimately dangerous story with a perfect time travel twist!”Hannah – Lemonade Library

 

“I started reading this not knowing completely what the story was about but there’s an amazing love story as well as a bit of history thrown into the mix along with some time travel and a soul mate and reincarnation!” – Anna – Bound in Ink Books


“This book is a very interesting twist on time travel, history and romance, something I would love to see adapted on the big screen in the future.”
Lyn – Reading Tsinoy

Amanda Gray believes in magic and fantasy and possibilities. She is a team of two bestselling authors who live only miles apart but have never met in person. They talk on the phone and are the best of friends and between them have written more than a dozen novels and novellas and have had their work appear on television.

*****

 

Boneseeker

Arabella Holmes was born different and raised different. After it became apparent she wouldn’t fit the role of a proper 1900′s lady, her father, Sherlock, called in some lingering favors, and landed her a position at the Mutter Museum. The museum was Arabella’s dream; she was to become a purveyor of abnormal science. What her father called a BoneSeeker.

Henry Watson arrives at the Mutter Museum with a double assignment–to become a finder of abnormal antiquities and to watch over and keep Arabella Holmes. An easy task, if he could only get her to speak to him instead of throwing knives in his general direction.

But this is no time for child’s play. The two teens are assigned to a most secret exploration, when the hand of a Nephilim is unearthed in upstate New York. Soon, Arabella and Henry are caught in a fight for their lives as scientific debate swirls around them. Are the bones from a Neanderthal … or are they living proof of fallen angels, who supposedly mated with humans according to ancient scrolls?

Sent to recover the skeleton, they discover they are the second team to have been deployed and the entire first team is dead. And now they must trust their instincts and rely on one another in order to survive and uncover the truth.

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Available for Purchase:
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What Readers are Saying:

“It was such a fab idea to take Holmes and Watson to the next generation and to have them on a kind of steampunk/ science adventure…”Nicky Peacock – Author

 

“This was a fantastic historical romance, with a huge mystery to solve (and in true Holmes/Watson style!)… with some amazing twists and turns along the way. – Desiree – Reviewer

 

“The settings are intriguing and the way they are described make you feel as if you are immersed in the story. I could feel the gloom and damp. That is rare in so many books! Boneseeker is a book I highly recommend, and I give it 5 stars!” Christy – Christy’s Cozy Corners

Brynn Chapman

Born and raised in western Pennsylvania, Brynn Chapman is the daughter of two teachers. Her writing reflects her passions: science, history and love—not necessarily in that order. In real life, the geek gene runs strong in her family, as does the Asperger’s syndrome. Her writing reflects her experience as a pediatric therapist and her interactions with society’s downtrodden. In fiction, she’s a strong believer in underdogs and happily-ever-afters. She also writes non-fiction and lectures on the subjects of autism and sensory integration and is a medical contributor to online journal The Age of Autism.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Giveaway

Complete the Rafflecopter for a chance to win!

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

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Sybrina VBT 2 Banner

It’s my pleasure to host the Book Blast for Sybrina by Amy Rachiele.

I have the stunning cover art and a fun excerpt for ya.

Also, a giveaway, so don’t forget to enter.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck!

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Genre: Historical Paranormal Romance

Fleeing for her life, Sybrina leaves behind everything to escape the dark and ominous creature that killed her family.

It wants to finish what it started.

Sybrina stows away aboard a clipper ship and poses as her recently murdered brother, Paul.

The year is 1866, an age in which science is a man’s game.

Can Sybrina solve the mystery of the creature that exsanguinates it victims?

Got a thrilling excerpt for you!

War. It is a societal domination that never dies with the progress of mankind. It crafts a vampiric buffet table, blood-soaked earth the tablecloth. The meal encased in shiny metals forged to futilely protect its fragile hosts. Hunting is easy and enshrouded in the mayhem, despair, and fear that accompany battle. It disguises the vampires’ unnatural feast making us undetectable. The remnants left behind are contorted in some bizarre repose. The only indication of its death being of unnatural causes.A fruitless meandering brought me to the Russo-Turkish war. The plain lines of unremarkable uniforms jumbled against the ground piled two to three deep was like walking through a meadow of flowers, crowded together and all the same. My unhurried walk is slow for my kind. I have nowhere in particular to be or wish to be, filling my deathless body my only task.

A gloved hand rises, black and torn, changing the terrain before me. I walk to it and bend down. I know not what draws me to the dying Cossack but the hand beckons to me among the dead. The irony interests me. I flip off the rubble that is charred limbs and body parts of his deceased comrades. A young, clean, unlined face, chiseled as though made of marble, stares back at me. Eyes not clouded with the shadows of death, but vibrantly blue and warm with life.

In the cavalry’s haste, someone tasked with the gruesome ordeal of clearing the dead has mistaken this wounded man as a corpse. I shuffle more debris and expose the man’s legs. Beneath, they are attached barely by sinew and fragments of broken bone. My original thought of this man’s happenstance, being mistaken for dead, is quelled. The condition of his injuries, blood loss, and damage make him a worthless endeavor for a surgeon. Others in this situation would be pallid and unconscious, rapping on the door of death. This man’s spirit is strong.

“Are you death?” he asks me.

Contemplating his question, I stifle a sardonic chuckle. In the truth of my existence, I can be either, take life or give it, eternally. I take more time, as if I am drawn to this soldier, to examine him closely. His body is ready to face the other side, but his mind is not.

“No.” I smile weakly.

“What are you then?”

“What do you think I am?” I question back curiously.

“A wraith,” he surmises, looking thoughtful.

A ghost would be too easy of a life, I think as I laugh at his response. A phantom to walk among the living and not have to partake of their company, but watch them with curiosity and indifference, having no substance or feelings to interfere. I would welcome such an existence.

“I am neither wraith nor human.”

“Do you have a soul, sir?”

“I do. A spirit like any other man.”

A small breeze travels past our intimate meeting and the Cossack’s blond hair dances around his face. He casts his eyes away from me and peers up into the cerulean sky, thinking.

“Are you here to save me?”

“What do you need saving from? To be able to leave this world and pass on to another is the gift of being human.”

“That path… it doesn’t seem to be the right one.”

“I have seen a great deal of death in my long days, and I know very few are ever ready for it when it comes.”

The maimed soldier contemplates and answers surprisingly again. “I would say very few are ready for love when it comes.”

My cheek lifts, forming a half grin in amusement. “I believe that is true as well.”

“I feel nothing from my waist down. Can you help me?”

“I can. But what I have to offer comes with a heavy price.”

“Name it.”

“Eternal existence in this world.”

Buy Links: Amazon Smashwords

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Author Amy Rachiele

Amy Rachiele is a military spouse and brat who spent many years volunteering and on staff for the Army National Guard and Department of Veteran Affairs with Family Support, Family Readiness, as well as, Families of the Fallen.

Amy devoted 10 years to teaching English to at-risk students in the Providence School System. She holds a Master’s degree from Rhode Island College in English and Secondary Education. Amy published book one in the Mobster Series, Mobster’s Girl, in 2012, and has continued to self-publish since. Her novels have climbed to the bestseller lists nationally and internationally on Amazon.com for romantic suspense and family saga. She is an active member of New England Independent Writers and has volunteered her time at her local library facilitating a writer’s group in the hope of inspiring other writers.

Amy hosts a public access cable show called Book Talk. Besides writing, she enjoys scrapbooking, sewing, and traveling. Amy lives in Massachusetts with her son and husband.

Author Links:

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Amy is giving away an ECopy of Mobster’s Girl

For a chance to win please fill out the rafflecopter below.

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Book Blast Hosts For September 16th

The Snarkology

Bitches Be Writin

New Age Mama

Queen of the Night Reviews

SapphyriasBookReviews

A Book Addict’s Delight

Fantasy Pages

The Saucy Reviewer

Booklover Sue

fuonlyknew

London Scribbles

Reader Girls

Musing of an Addicted Reader

Tamaria Soana

Reading, Writing, and Roses

Owltastic Promotions

The eBook Promotions

To Pen a Dream

Sassy Moms Say: Read Romance

Laurie’s Paranormal Thoughts & Reviews

Intriguing Reviews

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page.
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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My Teaser for today is from

Curses and Smoke

A Novel of Pompeii

by Vicky Alvear Shecter

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Genre: Historical Romance / YA

Teaser #1 from page 76 in the hard cover

“I think the earth is trying to tell us something.”

“That another big earthquake is coming?”

“No, I think it’s something else.”

Teaser #2 from page 80 in the hard cover

She stared up at him as he moved closer. He released her wrist and cupped her cheek, his thumb caressing soft, flushed skin.  He paused to drink in her scent, her warmth, the way her breath hitched when he bent toward her. Yes, this was a very bad idea, but as he lowered his mouth onto hers, his fears melted away.

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I won this book in a giveaway. Thanks Trakena!

I fell in love with an old movie called The Last Days of Pompeii and was so excited when I won this. Can’t wait to get further into it.

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Book Description:

When your world blows apart, what will you hold onto?

TAG is a medical slave, doomed to spend his life healing his master’s injured gladiators. But his warrior’s heart yearns to fight in the gladiator ring himself and earn enough money to win his freedom.

LUCIA is the daughter of Tag’s owner, doomed by her father’s greed to marry a much older Roman man. But she loves studying the natural world around her home in Pompeii, and lately she’s been noticing some odd occurrences in the landscape: small lakes disappearing; a sulfurous smell in the air. . . .

When the two childhood friends reconnect, each with their own longings, they fall passionately in love. But as they plot their escape from the city, a patrician fighter reveals his own plans for them — to Lucia’s father, who imprisons Tag as punishment. Then an earthquake shakes Pompeii, in the first sign of the chaos to come. Will they be able to find each other again before the volcano destroys their whole world?

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How about you? Got a tease? Tell me!

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Welcome to the Cover Reveal for

The Perilous Journey of the Not-So-Innocuous
Girl by Leigh Statham

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presented by Month9Books!

Isn’t the cover art fantastical!!

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!

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The Perilous Journey of the Not So Innocuous Girl

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Lady Marguerite lives a life most 17th century French girls can only dream of: Money, designer dresses, suitors and a secure future. Except, she suspects her heart may be falling for her best friend Claude, a common smithie in the family’s steam forge. When Claude leaves for New France in search of a better life, Marguerite decides to follow him and test her suspicions of love. Only the trip proves to be more harrowing than she anticipated. Love, adventure and restitution await her, if she can survive the voyage.

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Title: THE PERILOUS JOURNEY OF
THE NOT-SO-INNOCUOUS GIRL
Publication date: 2015
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC.
Author: Leigh Statham

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Chapter-by-Chapter-header---About-the-Author

L. Statham

Leigh Statham was raised in the wilds of rural Idaho, but found her heart in New York City. She worked as a waitress, maid, artist, math teacher, nurse, web designer, art director, thirty-foot inflatable pig and mule wrangler before she settled down in the semi-quiet role of wife, mother and writer. She resides in North Carolina with her husband, four children, five chickens and two suspected serial killer cats. If the air is cool and the sun is just coming up over the horizon, you can find her running the streets of her small town, plotting her next novel with the sort of intensity that will one day get her hit by a car.

Connect with the Author: Website |Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Chapter-by-Chapter-header---Giveaway

Ebok copy of The Perilous Journey of the not-so-innocuous Girl and a $10 Amazon Gift Card

Complete the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

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(Winners will receive their book on release day)

 

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

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The Friday 56 hosted by Freda’s Voice.

The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader and find any sentence, or a few (no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.

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#1

I am on my back, naked, making love with – who?

#2

I inhale the fragrance of my lover, believing that, like an animal, I can intuit his identity by smell alone.

#3

One certainty exists: I love this man.

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The Angel Connection

By Judith Anne Barton

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In this romantic thriller, mysterious convergences link two lives separated by 100 years.

In 1996, after her reputation, marriage, career as a TV journalist and relationship with her adult son, Chad, are trashed, Morgan Reed starts over in Milltown, Pa., a village in beautiful Bucks County. She feels drawn there, particularly to the 200-year-old former rectory that she buys. In 1895, Evangeline Laury, minister’s wife and mother to a small boy, feels stifled in provincial Milltown. She misses the cultured life she’d led in Philadelphia and her painting, especially when she learns that a local American impressionist, the charismatic Daniel Duvall, is giving lessons. As Morgan, with the help of her handsome but mercurial neighbor Victor, works on a documentary about 1895 Milltown, she uncovers more spooky parallels between her life and Evangeline’s. Both women, desperate for love and connection, are guiltily caught between competing attractions and responsibilities, whether for a husband, lover, child or work, and both women will experience the tragic death of someone close. In her debut novel, Barton writes lush descriptions of beauty and desire, with interesting historical details, many of which seem borrowed from real-life American impressionist painter Daniel Garber and his Bucks County studio at Cuttalossa Farm. (Black-and-white historical photos in the book go uncredited.) Though the narrative works to account for Morgan’s needy self-pity and Evangeline’s blind desire, readers might feel less sympathy than the writer intends, especially since other characters pay the ultimate price for the women’s culpability. In particular, deeply emotional Evangeline’s self-punishing guilt becomes internal melodrama. When Victor very reasonably objects to involving sullen, hard-drinking Chad on the documentary project, it’s a welcome moment of sensibleness: “It is not my problem to save your son.”

Emotional, doom-tinged and spooky, with two deeply flawed heroines.

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I won this book quite a while ago and after I started reading it I wanted to kick myself for waiting so long. Not what I expected at all and verrrrry interesting!

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

Unraveling of Lady Fury VBT

Every now and then I step outside my reading box and read something different.

I usually read horror and suspense, but how could I resist The Unraveling of Lady Fury!

The title caught my attention and when I saw this cover art, I had to have it.

I was reminded of my younger years, lying on the pier, reading a smexy romance while the waves lapped at the shore. I became lost in the adventure.

I’m looking forward to reliving that experience.

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Rule One: There will be no kissing.

Rule two: There will be no touching…

Widowed Lady Fury Shelton hasn’t lost everything—yet. As long as she produces the heir to the Beaumont dukedom, she just might be able to keep her position. And her secrets. But when the callously irresistible Captain James “Flint” Blackmoore sails back into her life, Lady Fury panics. She must find a way to protect herself—and her future—from the man she’d rather see rotting in hell than sleeping in her bed. If she must bed him to keep her secrets, so be it. But she doesn’t have to like it. A set of firm rules for the bedroom will ensure that nothing goes awry. Because above all else, she must stop herself from wanting the one thing that Flint can never give her. His heart.

Ex-privateer Flint Blackmoore has never been good at following the rules. Now, once again embroiled in a situation with the aptly named Lady Fury, he has no idea why he doesn’t simply do the wise thing and walk away. He knows he’s playing with fire, and that getting involved with her again is more dangerous than anything on the high seas. But he can’t understand why she’s so determined to hate him. He isn’t sure if the secret she keeps will make things harder—or easier—for him, but as the battle in the bedroom heats up, he knows at least one thing. Those silly rules of hers will have to go…

Unraveling of Lady Fury VBT

Excerpt:

Fury sat down and dipped the quill into the ink. She detected the faintest trace of nerves. It must be the fact Thomas lay in the cellar. Why else would a man, so great, so stalwart, so worldly as Captain Flint be nervous of her?

“Well, yes,” she said, listening to the pleasing scratch of the nib on the soft paper.

“Babies are not always made in a night. Of course, you wouldn’t know that, being you. It will take time.”

“All the more reason then to just get going. After all this time, sweetheart, you don’t know how eager I am.”

He strode across the tiled floor and the ink trailed a long dark path across the paper as he dragged her to her feet. Had it blobbed it might have been something to worry about. But she was very set on this. And calm. As calm as one could be having this man in her bedroom, knowing what was coming next out of dire necessity, her husband in a box in the cellar and her cast off, potential lovers on their way out the door.

“No, James.” She held a hand up between their lips. “There will be no kissing.”

“No kissing? Why in hell not?”

It displaced her calm to see him grin. She would have preferred that he was indignant. Especially as he was a man who thought he could settle all his arguments—with women anyway—with a kiss. But she kept her face cold, blank.

“Because.” In some ways she was cold. Cold with rage.

“Aw, come on Fury, didn’t you like my kissing? Hmm?” His breath, hot and male, brushed her fingertips. He wrapped his arms around her, splaying his hands across her back, so her hand might as well not have been there for all the protection it was.

But she was calm. Didn’t she have to get into bed with him after all? So, even the impulse to squirm was one she would squash. When she thought of all he had done to her, she would give him nothing. Not even the knowledge she found his proximity so unsettling that she sought to pull away.

“Your kissing was fine, in its way, I suppose. But kissing is a sign of affection.”

“How do you make that out?”

She knew exactly why he scratched his head. Their love-making had been torrid. It had been sensual. It had been shaming. And it had been absent of any affection. Certainly on his part. So, why on earth would a kiss be a sign of anything? To him anyway. She was the damn fool who had thought it had. Who even now was forced to concede the pleasure it would be to take her hand across his face to assist his understanding of her feelings. The impertinence of the damn man, the stinging ignorance.

“It just is.” She eased the distance between them a whisper. “So there will be none. Not now. Not at all.”

“All right then. Saves time. It means—”

“Rule two.” She saw his eyes freeze as he readied himself to yank off his shirt. She persisted anyway. Why not? In many ways she walked a tightrope here. If she paused it might be to her detriment. “You will be fully dressed at all times.”

“What? How the hell am I meant to—”

“I am sure you will manage. You managed plenty before. But I do not desire to look at your body before, during, or after. Nor in any shape or form wandering about this house in just your breeches. Is that understood?”

He dropped his hands from his shirt and glared, so he must have. “You wanted to look at it plenty before. In fact, it makes my head spin, just how often you—”

    True. But that was then. “Rule three.” Clasping her fingers around the cool edge of the dressing table to create another inch of distance, she continued.

   “Rule three? You mean there’s more?”

    “I will not touch you in any place, intimate or otherwise. I will lie. You will perform.”

Buy Links:   Amazon   Barnes and Noble   All Romance Ebooks

About the Author: 

Shehanne Moore, a Scottish author, who writes gritty, witty, as much risky as risqué, historical romance, set wherever takes her fancy. Stories that detail the best and worst of human behaviour, as opposed to pouts and flounces. For years she worked at various things, while pursuing her dream of becoming a published writer, so she was gobsmacked to sell her book, The Unraveling of Lady Fury, written in three months,  to U.S. publishers, Etopia Press,  six days after subbing it.

Shehanne still lives in Scotland,  with her husband Mr Shey. She has two daughters. When not writing intriguing historical romance, where goals and desires of sassy, unconventional heroines and ruthless men, mean worlds do collide, she fantasizes about cleaning the house, plays the odd musical instrument and loves what in any other country, would not be defined, as hill-walking.

Author Links:  Site      Facebook      Twitter       Pinterest

SOR Tour Host 3

To Tame a Montana Heart Button 300 x 225

I love a series. You get to see your favorite characters grow and get into and out of all kinds of situations. Each new book is like meeting old friends again. You feel instantly comfortable, like you’ve never been apart.

I look forward to seeing the Montana Girls and their guys again.

To Tame a Montana Heart
Montana Girl Series, Book One

Dawn Luedecke

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Genre: Western Historical

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

ISBN-10: 1612172016

ISBN-13: 978-1612172019

ASIN: B008MZR7DS

Number of pages: 308

Word Count: 87,193

Cover Artist: Tina Lynn

The Wild Rose Press ebook             The Wild Rose Press print

Amazon kindle edition  Amazon paperback edition

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Book Description:

Running from a past of privilege, deceit, and danger, Travis Simms is ready to settle down. What better place to forget all he left behind than the quiet little Montana town of Lolo   Hot Springs? His goal is clear — build a hotel and his own destiny without complications —until one of the town’s most troublesome women captures his attention.

Dusty Larson is hell bent on independence, helping her sister run the Triple D Ranch. She can do anything a man can, and do it better, so she certainly doesn’t need one in her life. The only problem is she seems to attract bad luck and danger…and Travis. Can he tame her wild ways and keep his bachelor status intact — or does he risk losing his heart?

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Excerpt

She watched him with care. “I don’t know if I love you. I like you, a lot, but I don’t have the slightest idea what love feels like.”

 Travis’ smile grew slowly across his face. “I understand. I’m not sure if I love you or not, but I also don’t think I could live without you. So you will always have that.” His voice was almost a whisper when he said the last.

“Truly?” Her voice cracked and she had to force herself to breathe easy.

“Truly.”

She inclined her head and took two brisk steps toward him. She leaned over and kissed him with all the fever of a thousand fires. He reached up and intertwined his hand through her hair to hold her still as he plundered her mouth.

She released him with a shaky breath and jumped back to turn on her heels. “Put something nice on. I’ll be back with a preacher man.”

“You know, I heard you only have to say ‘I marry you’ three times and then you’re hitched.”

She threw him a sassy look and slammed the door shut.

My review

To Tame a Montana Heart fed my hunger for a lighter, more humorous read.

Welcome to Lolo Springs.

Dusty comes from a large family. Lolo Springs is a small town. Impropriety is frowned upon and Dusty, along with a few of her sisters and her younger brother, give the town enough to raise their eyebrows.

Dusty and her younger brother, Dalon, help DeEtte run the Triple D Ranch. Something else frowned upon by the town gossips. Women get married, have babies, and tend the home. They don’t run around in men’s pants, doing men’s work.

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That doesn’t stop Dusty. She shoots like Annie Oakley and can bust broncos as well as any man. And she has a passion for fishing. That’s how she gets in a pickle with newcomer, Travis.

Travis doesn’t realize he’s in a race when he joins two riders running their horses on the plain. He loses by a nose and the pert, sassy, woman on her black stallion claims his horse. He laughs it off, but later his horse disappears.

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He later encounters her again, fishing in his stream. He spots his horse and sneaks around to get him. Then he decides to have some fun with her and fines her for trespassing. He takes her catch of fresh fish and leaves, chuckling.

Thus begins the game of who can keep the horse and the beginning of a romance.

I loved Travis and Dusty. He’s the jilted man and she’s the independent tomboy. What a match.

Dusty’s siblings go from refined, to rebellious and independent in character, with one older sister even becoming a bounty hunter. Scandalous!

With trying to complete the building of the hotel, run the Triple D Ranch, bust the broncos for delivery, deal with the rustlers that stole their herd, and the threat of an Indian uprising, their’s never a dull moment for these guys.

It was really fun to see Justine, the prim, older sister, let her hair down and even put on some pants. The author has set this up perfectly to feature different siblings in their own stories. It’s great this is a series.  I’ll read every one and have a rip-tearing time.

To tame a Montana Heart is relaxing and funny and reads like a swift flowing stream. Sit back and enjoy.

Four shiny spurs.

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About the Author:

Dawn Luedecke

A country girl born and bred, Dawn Luedecke has spent most of her life surrounded by horses, country folk, and the wild terrain of Nevada, Idaho and Montana. As a child she would spend many afternoons reading books, watching western classics, and Rogers and Hammerstein movies.

When she grew up she decided to leave the quiet country life for a chance to find adventure by serving a successful tour in the United States Coast Guard. During that time she found her soul mate (and alpha male) and started a family and writing career. She enjoys writing historical and paranormal romance and spends as much time as she can working on her current manuscript.

For more information visit www.dawnluedecke.com

I am once again drawn to another Historical Romance.

Willow Vale reads like a true story, but Alethea assures us it is not. In her words:

“There is a legend growing around my novel, Willow Vale. While I am flattered that readers think Willow Vale is a true story, the fact is that my fictional account of Francesca Sittoni’s adventures of coming to America is truly just that: fiction…”

Alethea takes you back in time. Back to the 1920’s.

Willow Vale follows the life of Francesca Sittoni. Trapped in a loveless marriage, she and her young daughter are forced to immigrate to America with her husband. They settle into a life of hardship in a coal mining town in Wyoming.

Frances, pregnant, is left to fend for herself and her young daughter when she loses her husband to a mining accident. Fear and desperation drive her to answer an ad from Kent Reed, a twice burned Wyoming rancher.

 Amidst crowded quarters, these two grow to understand and respect each other, and maybe more.

Alethea has done her research. You can feel it in the richness of her detailed scenes, the familiarity they bring.

Here are some scenes that reached out to me:

“How she missed that sense of belonging to the land. Even though in the end Val di Non has failed to sustain her, she still loved the lush valley of her birth and wished she could find that love of place once again. That sense of belonging which she had yet to find in America.”

“If he had been a praying man, he never would have imagined that the answers to his prayers would be a pregnant Italian war survivor with a small child. It was all too strange, too unbelievable that after all they had endured, in France, Italy and then the raw new land of Wyoming in the United States, he and Francesca should both end up on his small ranch in Willow Vale. Strange…and wonderful…and terrifying.”

A superbly written tale of survival, of loss and of hope, Willow Vale is an easy, smooth read all the way to a most satisfying ending.

If you like reading about days gone by and romance with all its raw emotions, you really must read Willow Vale. My descriptions pale in comparison to Alethea’s writing. I really enjoyed the adventure.

4 STARS

From Alethea:

Western history has been the great interest of my adult life. I’ve lived in Wyoming, Colorado, and now Oregon. Although an amateur historian, I am happiest researching different times and places in the historical West. And while staying true to history, I try not to let the facts overwhelm my stories. Story always comes first in my novels, and plot arises from the relationships between my characters.  I’m always open to your response to my writing. You can comment on Willow Vale or ask questions about me or my work at:

http://www.actuallyalethea.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/AletheaWilliams.author

I look forward to hearing from you.

Other books by Alethea Williams

First published as a monthly series of columns in the Green River Star, Green River, Wyoming, 1999 and 2000.

To purchase either of these books, just click on the cover images.

I have so many books to read. I am reading several right now. There are many more waiting for me. I can hear them calling “Pick Me!”

Here is a list of some of the books up next for me to read and review. I would love it if you would help me pick which two I should start with.

These are just some of the books I need to read or finish reading for reviews. I am currently working on several reviews, interviews and giveaways.

It would be great if you could give me some suggestions on which two I should do next! Let me know!!